A Tight Leash

My daughter had a great time playing with her stuffed animals.  With the dog stuffies she needed leashes, of course.  She had been using one of my belts.  I only had one and there are more than one dog, so I promised her I'd make her some. 

 I found some 'D' rings in my stash, added some ribbon (just measured to my daughter's waist), minimal sewing and Ta-Da!  Super easy!  And in no time at all (the attention span of most kids), an accessory for the puppy stuffies.

The very same idea can be used to make a belt for kids.  Age 4 or 5 might even be able to undo them for potty breaks.

Sweet and Sour - Candy Apples

 Or, so I am told.  The whole not eating fruit thing makes me about the last person who should post about a fruit based treat, so I am going on the recommendations of my husband and daughter.  I wanted to make these for preschool graduation, but the original attempt completly flopped. 

The idea was to do a carmel apple, so I googled it, watched an episode on Food Network, and looked at dozens of recipes.  And I learned something:  cooking is not like sewing.  You can't just combine a bunch of ideas and have it turn out.  At least I can't.  I am now a by the recipe kind of girl. 

That wasn't the end of my stuggles. I didn't have a 'melon baller', so I picked one up at the grocery store. (Again, my lack of expertese with fruit would have been helpful here.) Well, about 10 apple balls into the project, it broke. You don't really need the handle, but it certainly helps. Then the caramel only kind of stuck to the apple, because it usually sticks to the skin of an apple, I ran out of sprinkles, and in the end the caramel stuck better to the paper wrappers than the apples.

It leaves such a funny looking apple at the end :)

Bound an determined to make this recipe work, I just cut up an apple and tried it with the melted peanut butter chips suggested by the recipe.  Remember:  I'm a recipe follower now and again without a 'mellon baller'.  They aren't as cute at the round ones, but my daughter ate them happily. 

The melted chips are much more kid friendly, too.  They don't have to be as hot as the caramel.

I am hoping to do more fun ideas like this during the summer. 

Preschool Graduation

The rotation of our preschool group fell to me.  I enjoyed searching the Internet for ideas that would be easy enough and fun for the kids, but enjoyed by the parents.  I like how it turned out, but I am biased.  I think the kids enjoyed it.

First up: caps
      yarn
     cardstock
     styrofoam bowl ( I couldn't find any paper ones, just dessert plates)
     large eye needle

Second: the program
I had the kids each say a line from this little poem.  And we learned a little song.  Short and sweet and even that was hard to handle at an outdoor venue. 

Poem:
Graduation Poem

Original Author Unknown
Do you remember way last fall
When I was only just this tall?
Now look at me! I'm up to here!
And my, I've learned alot this year!
In fact, you think I'm really great!
That's why I get to graduate!

Song:
Fun In Preschool

Sung to: “I'll Be Working on the Railroad”
I've been having fun in preschool,
Learning all year long..

I can tell you all about it,
Just listen to this song.

We've been learning shapes and colors,
Letters and numbers too!

I've learned how to share with others,
Now our year is through!

Both ideas were not my own and you can find more like them here.